The best wines to stock up on for Christmas from Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Booths and Tesco

Minea Greco di Tufo 2023, Campania, Italy, 13%, Sainsbury down from £11 to £9 with Nectar card until December 10: Greco grapes originally came from Greece, now doing well in southern Italy, giving crisp, peach and apricot flavours with a minerally edge.

Wynns Coonawarra Chardonnay 2023, South Australia, 13.5%, Booths down from £15 to £11 until December 1: A ripe, rounded, elegant Chardonnay with white peach and citrus notes. Delicious poured alongside roast chicken, or even turkey.

Irresistible La Courbe, 2021, Valais, Switzerland, 12.5%, Co-op down from £10.50 to £8.50 until December 10: Juicy black cherry and plums in this light, fresh-tasting red from Switzerland made from Pinot Noir and Swiss grape, Gamaret.​

The Footbolt Shiraz d’Arenberg 2021, South Australia, 14.5%, Tesco down from £12.50 to £11 with a Clubcard until December 2: Concentrated, complex and chewy, packed with dense damson fruit, tobacco and pepper. A toe-warming wine, perfect with meaty casseroles.

Trolley dash at Waitrose

With 25 per cent off all wines and champagnes normally priced between £6 and £100, when you buy six bottles, Waitrose is definitely the place to stock up on your favourite tipples for Christmas. The offer runs until Tuesday (Dec 3) and is available in store and online.

For easy drinking, head to Waitrose Blueprint Verdejo 2023 from Rueda in Spain. Normally priced at £6.99, this is a crisp, crunchy style of wine, almost like Sauvignon Blanc but with melon, herbs and fennel notes among the citrus flavours.

Among the great value reds on offer, the deep plummy flavours of Waitrose Argentinian Malbec 2023 from Mendoza are a bargain at the full price of £7.49, so stock up on a few bottles to see you through the dark nights of winter.

Lunchtime drinks

At a recent Sunday lunchtime neighbourhood gathering, the most popular drink was non-alcoholic. It seems that it is no longer acceptable to drink alcohol at lunchtime, certainly for those with busy lives who perhaps need to get in the car later that day to drive children to their various activities.

The best “seller” at the gathering was undoubtedly REAL Royal Flush, a non-alcoholic sparkling tea (Sainsbury’s, £9). Made from fermented first flush Darjeeling tea, it gets away from the usual sweetened taste of dealcoholised wines, providing fresh, almost savoury umami flavours with hints of peach and spice.

What people really appreciated were the bubbles, which lifted the drink into the celebration category.

Wine quiz

If you have been paying attention to this wine column all year, then you might like to have a go at the Fiendish Wine Quiz. This year it will be published on December 28 so if you plan to be away from home over New Year, you will need to ask your newsagent to save you a copy of The Yorkshire Post.

Online subscribers will be able to access the quiz from wherever you happen to be and there will be plenty of time to fill in the answers and email your entry.

This year the prize will be a six pack of wine, courtesy of House of Townend, worth around £100.